Sheehan’s Learning Style Inventory – 1967

Peter W. Sheehan based his inventory off of the work of George Herbert Betts (1909) who created an inventory containing 150 items. Sheehan modified Betts’ questionnaire to a reduced amount of 35 items.

Sheehan (1967) followed a similar scale using seven degrees of clearness and vividness within varied imagery designations. The scale started with the greatest clarity to no clarity at all.

1. Very vivid and clear as reality.
2. Vivid and almost clear as in reality.
3. Generally clear and vivid.
4. Not so clear and vivid but still recognizable.
5. Vague and unclear.
6. Very vague and hardly recognizable.
7. I think of it, but do not have an image before me.

The Shortened Betts Inventory has been effectively used in research, proven to be a reliable and valid means of measurement.

Sources:

Betts, G.H. (1909).  The distribution and functions of mental imagery.  Teachers’ College Columbia University Contributions to Education, 26, 1-99.

Sheehan, P.W. (1967).  A shortened form of Betts’ Questionnaire upon Mental Imagery.  Journal of Clinical Psychology, 23, 386-389.

By Tracy Atkinson

Tracy Atkinson, mother of six, lives in the Midwest with her husband and spirited long-haired miniature dachshunds. She is a teacher, having taught elementary school to higher education, holding degrees in elementary education and a master’s in higher education. Her passion is researching, studying and investigating the attributes related to self-directed learners and learning styles. She has published several titles, including MBTI Learning Styles: A Practical Approach, The Art of Learning Journals, Calais: The Annals of the Hidden, Lemosa: The Annals of the Hidden, Book Two, Rachel’s 8 and Securing Your Tent. She is currently working on a non-fiction text exploring the attributes of self-directed learners: The Five Characteristics of Self-directed Learners.